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Malay Engineer leaves Singapore due to Racial Discrimination, comment

Whilst ed has retired from the issue of race in singapore - as most chinese, online and off, don’t seem inclined to bother; most of the ‘others’ have been underdeveloped enough by it to not having the sense to deem anything amiss; and also because most of what has to be said about this issue has been by a2ed.com - I feel compelled, for the interests of all, to post the following comment by a2ed on an article in transitioning.org, entitled, ‘Malay Engineer Works in Australia due to Racial discrimination in Singapore’. Thumbs-up to 'Transitioning.org' for their rightful interest in this issue. (click image to read the full article in transitioning.org)

The comment below was posted at the aforementioned site, and republished below. with a little more elaboration.

The link to the article was sent to a2ed by a non-chinese singaporean - who shies from commenting or writing on such matters as s/he fears repercussions, and hence cannot remain blameless in this degenerating state of affairs. The following basically summarises most, albeit not all, of what has already been discussed in more detail at this site - more so than any other site in singapore.

ed:

“Good article. I wouldn’t say it’s enlightening as I, amongst all my non-chinese friends, have had to put up with chinese racism for most of our lives. Even chinese friends aren’t really ‘friends’ as they tend not to bother about the interests of other races, are racist themselves in terms of colour, features, etc, do not notice racism when it happens, etc. But in order to ‘get along’, we have to ‘tolerate’ this and put on a smile and take them for the little that they have become due to governmental cultural/racial supremacism.

It is only when equal respect and appreciation is accorded, can there be enough fusion between races to create a singular singaporean culture that contains the best components of all cultures.
Quite a few of my friends have left, and i’m in the process of it myself. You could say that we haven’t become used to 2nd class citizenship, have a healthy respect for ourselves despite media and government efforts, and discrimination by quite a few chinese.

With regards to malays being lazy. They are not. They just aren’t as opportunistic as most as they hail from a highly communal culture – which the other races would do well in learning from. Hence, unlike the chinese, they do not have an economic ‘siege mentality’ – significantly engendered by governmental exploitation and oppression of the people…as is the case in chinese/singaporean history….which has, as a result, produced a ‘chinese’ culture that makes those socialised within it what they are, and hence think the Malays ‘lazy’. With the chinese standard being taken as the norm, it’s no wonder people believe in the myth of ‘malay laziness’.

As for our brethren across the causeway (and i mean 'brethren' with reference to both genders), they aren't 'lazy' or 'laid back' either. As the Malays, as stated, are a highly communal people, with relatively less top-down oppression as was and is the case in China, it's no wonder that they aren't as economically belligerant. Despite ed's condemnation of the fascist and racist Bumiputra policy, it has to be admitted that this policy, in part, helps, albeit paradoxically, maintain this communality as they do not have to 'update' their economic belligerence from communality to 'make it' with more economically 'vibrant' and 'hardworking' others.

It must also be stated that people whom are natives will tend to go on the way they've always done - in the case of the Malays, relatively communal-like as opposed to being economically 'hardworking' - and hence, with the influx of more economically belligerent peoples, or people whom might work harder to survive or 'make it' in a foreign land, they might come across as 'lazy'. They had a culture that enabled them to survive as long as they did, and hence, there was no need for them to 'update ' it It was only in competition with the economically belligerant or those whom were insecure in a foreign land, that this need might arise.

With regards to creating one ‘singaporean race’, there has to first be equal respect, and appreciation – not just ‘tolerance’ – of each other’s cultures. Each culture must be given equal prominence – we shouldn’t be celebrating ‘chinese’ culture as if it is the national culture, whatever the numbers of the people, in relatively prominent locations, chingay, etc.

It is only when equal respect and appreciation is accorded, can there be enough fusion between races to create a singular singaporean culture that contains the best components of all cultures. Singapore was going in that direction in the 70s and early 80s. The government put a stop to that as they knew that confucianism would buy enough intellectual and perspectival docility amongst the people to get them political longevity. Hence, to just fuse everyone as they are today is to fuse a stronger chinese culture with diluted malay and indian cultures. That would make ‘singaporean’ culture ‘chinese’, not singaporean.”

ed

5 comments:

I am the person who brought this article to ed's attention. I must say that this engineer's experience of discrimination and attempted marginalization through the use of mandarin mirrors my own experience. The root cause is the chinese supremacist policy of the Singapore government.

What a shame, i thought then, the pioneer leaders fought hard for an independent and multiracial society and ended up in such a pathetic state. Such outrages discriminatory practice is pervasive in this country. There are many personal experiences and stories i had and heard that made this even more real. There are bosses who already have the preconception and prejudice that the Malays are 'lazy' without questioning their perception or give further thought why this is so. I have once told off my boss that i've got an extremely good, responsible and hardworking Malay friend who's work rate can beat any chinese i've met and I've also seen and met many lazy chinese. So, sometimes i feel its absolutely ridiculous for people to pass such remark. No doubt i've also encountered Malays who are not as diligent at work but there are equally as many if not more chinese who are quite similar too. I also had a discussion with a chinese colleague about why the Malays tend to stick to themselves. I've explained to him that this is quite a 'natural' reaction among people when their interests are compromised and that they suffer some form of mistreatment by others among them. Well, i further explained that this form of behavior can also be found in chinese or other races as well when they encountered similar experience. Sometimes, it is the personal unpleasant experiences that one encounters that influenced him/her to form or conclude with such a opinion. I'm still explaining to my chinese colleagues whenever such topic surfaces. Well, there are empirical evidences that incompetent people can be holding more senior positions in a company just because they are of the 'majority' race while the 'disadvantaged' race no matter how competent and 'hardworking' they can be, are not even considered for higher positions in the organisation.

What a shame, Sim, that you only feel the need to comment on these issues on the day that you're meeting me or calling me - so as to avoid getting 'plucked' by me for not bothering to comment or bother about these issues the rest of the time. Besides being an insult to my intelligence, you're not going to get much insights this way, and these comments you place hence becomes an insult to those whom are victimised by this on a daily basis. In that, you're a part of the problem, and one who gains from it.

Racial discrimination issue seems to be getting more serious. It’s everywhere. Wondering how such discrimination is stemming all over the community. The only difference of those people is their skin color and nothing more. They don’t even posses any contagious disease to be isolated in the community.